No play was possible on the first day of the County Championship match between leaders Durham and Yorkshire at Chester-le-Street because of rain

18-Jun-2011
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No play was possible on the first day of the County Championship match between leaders Durham and Yorkshire at Chester-le-Street because of rain.It was a mixed blessing for both teams as the delay gave them some rest after travelling from Friends Life t20 matches last night, although neither will welcome the prospect of a draw.With five wins from eight games, Durham are 17 points clear at the top, while Yorkshire have not won since the opening match at Worcestershire and lie seventh with 62 points. A week after his 37th birthday Durham’s Dale Benkenstein needs 148 runs to break the county’s record first-class tally.Former captain Jon Lewis, now the second team coach, totalled 7,854 runs in 262 innings from the 1997-2006 seasons, while Benkenstein has scored 7,707 in 171 innings. He has hit four centuries and four half-centuries in 12 knocks this season in the County Championship, in which he has scored 856 runs at 77.72.While Yorkshire await Tim Bresnan’s return to full fitness, Durham are able to reunite Steve Harmison and Graham Onions for the first time since August 2009. They also have Liam Plunkett available for his first championship action since the win at Headingley in April.

Essex revived their promotion hopes with a crushing 254-run victory over Leicestershire in the County Championship Division Two clash at Grace Road

13-Jul-2011
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Essex revived their promotion hopes with a crushing 254-run victory over Leicestershire in the County Championship Division Two clash at Grace Road.Having set Leicestershire a target of 393 Essex bowled them out for 138 in 49.2 overs to clinch their second successive Championship win after beating Northamptonshire in convincing fashion two weeks ago.But it was another dismal batting performance by bottom-of-the-table Leicestershire who only three weeks ago in their last Championship game were dismissed for just 48 to lose by an innings and 155 runs to Northamptonshire.Youngsters Tymal Mills and Tom Craddock played a major part in the Essex victory. Left-arm seamer Mills, only 18, took 3 for 48 in 10 impressive overs on his championship debut while leg-spinner Craddock, currently on trial with Essex, celebrated his 22nd birthday with eye-catching figures of two for 12 in 12 overs having claimed four wickets in the first innings.Essex batted on for another five overs at the start of the day scoring 38 runs and allowing Owais Shah to complete his first century since joining them from Middlesex. He reached it with a straight six off Claude Henderson and was unbeaten on 112 off 147 balls when Essex declared on 344 for 5 giving them a lead of 392. Off-spinner Jigar Naik took 4 of the wickets at a cost of 89 runs.Leicestershire made the worst possible start to the run chase with Will Jefferson out to the first ball of the innings edging David Masters to second slip. From that point on it was all downhill for the home side as their batting was blown away by some impressive bowling from Essex.Greg Smith and James Taylor followed, while opener Matt Boyce top scored with 26 before becoming Mills’ first victim, trapped lbw with a delivery that kept low. Tom New went in the same fashion to the same bowler and Wayne White had his leg stump knocked back by another excellent delivery from the 18-year-old.That made it 91 for six and from there there was no way back for the home side. Craddock was brought into the attack and picked up the wickets of Naik, who was bowled by a delivery that kept low, and then Henderson, who chopped the ball back into his stumps.A ninth-wicket stand between Andrew McDonald and Nadeem Malik delayed the inevitable for a time but Malik finally fell when he gloved a catch behind off Ryan ten Doeschate and, with Harry Gurney unable to bat because of injury, the home side were all out for 138.Essex took 22 points from the win to keep alive their hopes of mounting a challenge for promotion while Leicestershire’s four points left them rooted to the foot of the table.

Murray Goodwin narrowly missed out on a century as Sussex struggled to pull out of their slide towards defeat against Warwickshire on the third day of the County Championship meeting at Edgbaston

22-Jul-2011
ScorecardMurray Goodwin narrowly missed out on a century as Sussex struggled to pull out of their slide towards defeat against Warwickshire on the third day of the County Championship meeting at Edgbaston.After being propped up for more than four-and-a-half hours by Goodwin’s defiant knock of 94, the south coast side were dismissed for 259 in their first innings and then made 71 for 2 after following on still 262 behind’s the home side’s total of 521. They will go into the final day trailing by 191 but with Ed Joyce perhaps offering some hope of an escape route if he can build on his unbeaten 42 so far.Although without injured strike bowler Boyd Rankin, title-chasing Warwickshire still had sufficient resources to work their way through a brittle middle order when Sussex resumed their first innings on 103 for 3. Nightwatchman James Anyon departed after a loose drive to cover off Chris Woakes and Michael Yardy’s search for form only led to disappointment with a mistimed pull which was comfortably held by the bowler, Rikki Clarke.After the early breakthrough by the seamers, New Zealand offspinner Jeetan Patel provided a successful alternative in his unexpected appearance while Warwickshire await of the arrival of West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Patel, originally signed for the Friends Life t20 competition, bowled Andrew Hodd when the Sussex wicketkeeper shaped to cut but offered no shot, and next he had Olly Rayner neatly taken by Ian Porterfield at backward short leg.Goodwin, meanwhile, played well within himself, cruising to his half-century with only five fours, and with seven wickets down for 183 he was able to build a worthwhile partnership with 21-year-old Will Adkin. One of the tallest players on the county circuit at 6ft 9in, Adkin was selected for this match as the third seamer, although it was as a batsman that he made an impact by scoring 45 against Surrey on his championship debut last summer.An unflappable left hander with a sound technique, he put on 54 with Goodwin and made an unbeaten 29 in just over two hours before Sussex folded in mid-afternoon. A rash moment brought about Goodwin’s downfall when he pulled Woakes (4 for 67) to deep midwicket and the last two wickets quickly fell to Andrew Miller and Patel (4 for 52).Joyce slipped into Goodwin’s role in the second innings but Warwickshire made some progress before bad light and rain ended the day. Patel took his fifth wicket of the match when Chris Nash (20) swept to deep square leg and Luke Wells was caught in the gully off Clarke.

Left-arm seamer Harry Gurney will be leaving Grace Road for Trent Bridge at the end of the season after signing a three-year contract with Nottinghamshire

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Aug-2011Left-arm seamer Harry Gurney will be leaving Grace Road for Trent Bridge at the end of the season after signing a three-year contract with Nottinghamshire. Gurney, 24, will represent Leicestershire in the Champions League, the qualifying tournament for which starts on September 19, before completing the switch.Gurney was Leicestershire’s leading wicket-taker in this year’s Twenty20 competition with 23 scalps. He missed Leicestershire’s Finals Day victory with a side strain but will recover in time to take part in the Champions League.”I’ve made my mark in limited-overs cricket but I think I can be more effective in four day cricket given the way the red ball swings at Trent Bridge and the carry in the wicket,” said Gurney. “Nottinghamshire have an excellent squad that is usually in contention in all three formats and I want to be part of that.”Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell suggested that Gurney would add left-arm variation to his pace attack. “Leicestershire tend to play two spinners in the Championship and Harry has found himself behind Matthew Hoggard and Nathan Buck which has limited his appearances,” said Newell.”He’s had success in twenty-over cricket and our batsmen were impressed by the pace he showed in the matches against us. Left-arm swing is a good option for us to have at our disposal and we’re pleased to have agreed this deal with Harry.”Gurney played club cricket for Loughborough Town before graduating through Leicestershire’s age group system and making his first class debut in 2007. He took three wickets in his solitary Championship appearance this season.

The BCCI does not wish to use the DRS in its current form, its new president N Srinivasan has said

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2011The BCCI has reverted to its stance against the use of the Decision Review System, with the new board president N Srinivasan saying the current technology was simply not good enough after Hot Spot, which was made mandatory at the last ICC meeting on the urging of the BCCI, proved inconclusive on a few occasions during India’s tour of England.”We did not believe in the ball-tracking technology at all. But the BCCI is not averse to technology,” Srinivasan said after the annual general meeting in Mumbai. “So therefore, at the last meeting of the ICC in Hong Kong, we agreed to a minimum usage of DRS including Hot Spot.”At the time, we were under the impression that Hot Spot was very good. It is not necessary for me to dwell on the accuracy of Hot Spot, it was there for everybody to see. The BCCI will, at the next ICC meeting, raise the issue. We want to revisit it because we feel that Hot Spot is insufficient. We do not wish to use the DRS in its present form, even in its minimum standard.”During the tour of England, India’s captain MS Dhoni again voiced his displeasure at the handling of the DRS on more than one occasion, with Rahul Dravid in particular falling victim to three controversial dismissals. The last dismissal took place during the first ODI, with Dravid initially being given not out by umpire Billy Doctrove.Stuart Broad was so sure of the edge he immediately signalled for a review before consulting his captain, Alastair Cook. However, the evidence reviewed by Marais Erasmus, the third umpire, appeared inconclusive. Neither of the two Hot Spot cameras picked up any edge, and there was no clear deviation on the slow-motion replay. Yet the decision was overturned and Dravid was given out apparently because there was a sound as ball passed bat.During the ICC annual conference in Hong Kong in July, the BCCI, along with other member boards, had agreed to a compromise wherein Hot Spot was made mandatory for DRS while the use of ball-tracking technology was made optional.

Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan captain, has offered his services tp the PCB as a part-time bowling coach

Umar Farooq17-Oct-2011Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan captain, has offered his services to the PCB as a part-time bowling coach. Akram said he is ‘ready to work for Pakistan’, but would not be able to do it full-time because of family commitments.”Coaching is a very demanding job,” Akram told reporters at Lahore airport. “It requires a 24/7 [twenty four hours, seven days a week commitment] that I cannot afford while my personal life is a little unsettled. I have two kids to look after. But if they want my services, I am ready to work, but only in my free time.”In the past Akram has turned down the PCB’s offers to coach, citing his responsibilities as a commentator. While he did state that he still doesn’t have much free time, he said that whenever he is in Pakistan, he could juggle his routine to have time to coach fast bowlers.”I have emphasised before that while I am free in Pakistan, give me about 10 to 15 young fast bowlers to coach for a month and I am ready to work. We have outstanding facilities at the National Cricket Academy. Send them to Karachi or I can come to Lahore as well.”When asked about the upcoming series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the UAE, Akram said Sri Lanka are a good side but not good enough to beat Pakistan. He pointed out that the bowling attack has struggled without Muttiah Muralitharan, who was responsible for 40 per cent of the team’s wickets during his career.”Sri Lanka is a good team but without Murali [Muralitharan] and [Lasith] Malinga they can’t bowl out Pakistan twice in Test cricket,” Akram said. “I don’t see Pakistan losing unless they play very bad cricket.”Pakistan has experience as Younis [Khan], Misbah [ul Haq] are there in the line-up and another veteran (Shoaib) Malik is back in the side. So with all this, we can understand that the team isn’t lacking any talent. They just need support and need to play good cricket.”Pakistan will play three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 International in the three Emirates of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, as Pakistan are currently unable to host international cricket amid security concerns since the attack on the Sri Lanka team in 2009. Given the situation, Akram said the PCB should create an alternative home country for the team.”The idea is to play as much cricket as they can,” Akram said. “If teams aren’t heading to Pakistan, come up with an alternative hub and a system for Pakistan’s home series and give its team more cricket – that will help them to flourish.”

Duleep Mendis, Sri Lanka’s chairman of selectors, has lashed out at the players and coaches of the national team for their dismal performances against Pakistan

Sa'adi Thawfeeq06-Nov-2011Duleep Mendis, Sri Lanka’s chairman of selectors, has lashed out at the players and coaches of the national team for their dismal performances against Pakistan in the ongoing Test series in the United Arab Emirates.”The performance of our cricketers is way below of what we expected of them,” Mendis said.”We may not have played Test cricket in the UAE before but then we should have gone there a few weeks ahead and got ourselves acclimatised to the pitches and conditions.”Apart from Kumar Sangakkara the batting has been a complete let down. There have been occasions where other batsmen have also contributed but overall our batting from one to six has been disappointing. Sangakkara has been brilliant and he alone is carrying the Sri Lanka batting most of the time.”Mendis noted that this was not the first time the Sri Lanka batting has failed to live up to its potential. “This has happened in three consecutive series starting in England and Australia and now against Pakistan. Compared to Pakistan we have one of the best batting line-ups in Test cricket and experienced players who have made centuries at the highest level. I think it has something to do with the mental approach. Something is not right there and it is the coaches who have to address it.”Unlike during our time, today there are coaches to handle every aspect of the game, batting, bowling, fielding, so it is their duty to see where we are going wrong. As much as it is the responsibility of the coaches the players must also take a fair share of the blame.”
Pakistan’s bowling attack has been much more incisive than Sri Lanka’s over the course of the series, and Mendis felt that was an indictment of the bowling coach. “You take our bowlers there is a marked difference when Pakistan bowl and when we bowl. Their bowlers are able to get life out of a lifeless pitch. I think it is something to do with technique and our bowling coach is responsible for it.”He was also critical of the rest of the support staff for not performing their roles properly. “See the number of players who are injured? Dammika Prasad is unable to play in two consecutive Test matches without breaking down. Yesterday (third day) he did not bowl and we were down to four bowlers. Thankfully we played five bowlers in the Test.
“Apart from Prasad there is Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga, Ajantha Mendis and Prasanna Jayawardene all on the injury list. I don’t know what our physios and masseurs are doing with the players for them to get constantly injured.”On the question of promoting captain Tillakaratne Dilshan to open the batting in the third Test against Pakistan at Sharjah, Mendis said it was a tactical change to allow for an extra bowler in the XI.”We tried the 6-5 combination in England also but it didn’t work in our favour. We are 1-0 down in the present series and we need to win the final Test to square it. We made the change with that intention. [Lahiru] Thirimanne didn’t bat all that badly for a newcomer. He was left out because we are looking for a result in this Test.”Mendis also pointed out that Sri Lanka was presently in the process of rebuilding the team after the retirements of Muthiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu and during such a period there can be setbacks.”It is not easy replacing players in the calibre of Murali, Sanath, Vaas and Marvan overnight. It will take some time and we will hit some rough patches while in the process of doing so.”

Manish Pandey, the Karnataka batsman, could miss the rest of the Ranji Trophy season after undergoing a hernia operation in Bangalore

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2011Manish Pandey, the Karnataka batsman, could miss the rest of the Ranji Trophy season after undergoing a hernia operation in Bangalore. Pandey scored his second first-class double-century in Karnataka’s third-round match against Mumbai at the Brabourne Stadium but felt pain during the innings, as well as while fielding later in the drawn match. He consulted doctors on his return to Bangalore, was advised an immediate hernia surgery and will now need four to six weeks of rest.”It’s really unfortunate,” Karnataka’s chairman of selectors J Abhiram told . “He was in great form and was being noticed by everyone. The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time.”Pandey was the fifth highest run-getter in last year’s Ranji Trophy, with 629 runs from eight matches including two centuries. He was prolific during the Duleep Trophy too, scoring 329 runs in three innings, including his maiden first-class double-hundred.Karun Nair, a 19-year-old batsman yet to make his first-class debut, will be Pandey’s replacement for Karnataka’s next match, against Saurashtra from November 29. Nair has been picked on the back of a century for KSCA Colts XI against Rajasthan Cricket Association XI in the Shafi Darashah Tournament in July- August 2011. “Karun has been in fine form this year, and so we decided to give him the opportunity,” Abhiram said. “We also discussed Lokesh Rahul and Kunal Kapoor and I am sure they will get their chances too in the near future.”Ganesh Satish, the midde-order batsman, will captain Karnataka against Saurashtra in the absence of R Vinay Kumar, who has been selected for India’s ODI series against West Indies.

Shane Warne has suffered serious burns to his bowling hand a mere five days from the Melbourne Stars’ first match in the Twenty20 Big Bash League

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2011Shane Warne has suffered serious burns to his bowling hand a mere five days from the Melbourne Stars’ first match in the Twenty20 Big Bash League, placing his fitness for the start of the tournament in some jeopardy.The burns, which Warne relayed to the world via a graphic image on Twitter, were sustained in a cooking accident.His team was due to take part in a practice match on Monday, though the Stars have indicated that Warne was not scheduled to take part in the fixture.”Not ideal preparation for practice match today-burning the bowling hand Get better quickly please,any suggestions-HELP,” Warne wrote. “Ps no more trying to be a master chef ! Stop and by a bacon roll on the way to the ground next time – silly Shane !”Cameron White, the Stars’ captain, said Warne was confident he would be fit to play on Saturday.”I saw his hand and I saw the pic on Twitter as well – it’s one of those things, it looks a lot worse than probably what it is,” White told reporters. “He said to me in the rooms before that he’s pretty sure he’ll be able to bowl on Wednesday and 100 per cent confident he’s going to play on Saturday as well.”It’s just part and parcel of Warney. The boys are really looking forward to playing with him and what he brings to the table – from burning his hand cooking a bacon sandwich to everything that he’ll do out on the ground.”Warne’s mishap was not the only drama to envelop Melbourne’s two T20 teams in the days before the start of the BBL.Another Star, the Tasmanian allrounder James Faulkner, suffered a dislocated finger in the field during the practice match, while the Renegades’ Brad Hodge has suffered a hamstring injury. Simon Helmot, the Renegades coach, said he felt “sick” after confirmation that Hodge had suffered a hamstring tear.”Obviously when one of your main men go down, it’s disappointing,” he said. “He was a bit dejected at the time, he was really disappointed. But he’s a competitor, he’ll do everything possible to get himself right as soon as possible.”

Suspicions and doubts about the priorities of Cricket Australia’s management have filtered steadily out of the Australian dressing room

Daniel Brettig23-Jan-2012Suspicions and doubts about the priorities of Cricket Australia’s management have filtered steadily out of the Australian dressing room in the months since the appointment of Pat Howard as the team performance manager.A year ago the players readily questioned the priorities of CA and its desire to equip the team in the best possible way to win matches, to the point that management and selectors were banned from the dressing room during the ODI series against England. Now there is confidence that Howard and the coaches and selectors underneath him are committed to creating the best environment for success, and will not allow compromising decisions to be made.Causes for most anger in the ranks last summer included the 17-man squad named in advance of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane, and the refusal to release Michael Hussey and Doug Bollinger from the Twenty20 Champions League to prepare for a Test series in India.Such decisions fell within the remit of Michael Brown, the former general manager of cricket operations. Brown has left CA to oversee preparations for football’s 2015 Asian Cup, having been shifted to one side by Howard’s appointment. Paul Marsh, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers Association, said the new structure had bred trust.”Under the new structure I’m reasonably confident that we won’t see another 17-man home Ashes squad announced just to keep the marketing people happy,” Marsh told ESPNcricinfo. “What the players want more than anything is a support structure that gives them the best possible chance to be successful. I don’t think the previous structure always allowed this but the new structure has an individual in Pat Howard who is accountable solely for team performance.”This has quickly created an environment where the players now feel that they have someone within CA senior management who is completely aligned to the goals of the team. The immediate impact of this is that players are starting to feel that the performance of the Australian cricket team is the high priority it should be for CA, whereas for the past few years this has rightly been questioned by the playing group.”Brown’s former role was unwieldy, covering an enormous amount of ground. It included the team, playing conditions, disciplinary measures, television rights and pay negotiations. He was seldom heard from by the players unless it was a call to inform them of their selection in the national team, or to notify them of a disciplinary breach.By contrast, Howard is a consistent presence around the team in his oversight role, sitting in on selection meetings and working closely with the head coach Mickey Arthur. His background as a former rugby international and coach has also given him a closer appreciation of high performance sport and its demands than Brown was able to call upon.Ultimately accountable for the performance of the team, Howard has said he is less an auditor than an agent of collaboration, between players, coaches, the national team and the states.”I don’t see myself as looking over their shoulder, I see myself as enabling that performance – we’ve all seen there’s a lot of talent there – and making sure that talent gets an opportunity is really important,” Howard said. “And I think most of the Australian public have seen, given a chance there are some guys who are really well and truly up to it or can grow into it.”That’s one of the great stories of the summer. Everyone, be they players or management, want the same thing, they want Australia to win, to perform, and they bring to the table lots of ideas about how we can improve. If we can bring that collaboration to the table then as a consequence we can only improve over the next couple of years.”The strong results seen so far against India have suggested that the team is benefiting from the change, and Hussey said there was an air of refreshment that had come from the knowledge that everyone was working towards the same goal.”Certainly winning breeds fun, but also there’s been so much change around the team, and I think for a while there everyone did get a bit insular, and it was a bit quieter, we were a bit more intense,” Hussey said. “But I think now the new coach has set in, the new selectors have stepped in, the communication’s been really good, everyone knows where they stand, they know what their roles are, and they know where they want to take the team in the future.”I think that gives everyone a lot of heart and a lot of confidence. And then you can really be yourself and really see the characters come through in the team.”